This application Is for a five year renewal (years 36-40) of an institutional training grant in cardiovascular disease epidemiology. The aims of the training program are to develop creative and independent investigators who will contribute to our knowledge of cardiovascular disease, its pathogenesis, complications and prevention. Both the training program and trainees will evolve in response to the changing needs of cardiovascular epidemiology and science. The program is based in the Department of Epidemiology but benefits from close ties with other population and clinically-oriented departments at The Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions as well as several affiliated community-based research units. The 46 trainees in the past 10 years have been extremely successful;to date their CVs show a total of 773 publications including 45 book chapters;14 are currently in training with 84% of the 32 others in faculty (n=21) or NIH, CDC, Navy, PAHO, or research institute (n=6) positions. The progam developed 1 new course (total of 5), added promising junior faculty and increased minority recruitment efforts. As Dr. Coresh enters his 13th year of directing the program, we propose appointing new assistant program directors. We propose 5 post-doctoral slots (our originally approved size) and increasing the number of pre- doctoral slots from 4 to 7 to accommodate the increasing emphasis on epidemiology and prevention as well as our success in multi-disciplinary training across departments and schools, particularly in genetic epidemiology. Pre-doctoral candidates will enroll in the PhD program. Post-doctoral candidates without a previous degree in epidemiology will enroll in a 2-year thesis bearing master's degree. Trainees will participate in (1) a structured schedule of didactic course work, (2) journal club, seminar series, and a program-specific research-in-progress meeting, (3) "hands-on" analysis of an existing data set and (4) thesis research project. A Program Director, 3 Assistant Directors and 18 other nationally recognized cardiovascular disease epidemiologists serve as potential Faculty Advisors for the trainees. The program will maintain a focus on excellence, multi-disciplinary collaboration, innovation and life-long learning,